Privacy and the database state in the news

Privacy and the database state in the news

Daily Archives: June 28, 2011

Computing magazine reports: The Home Office has refused to back down in the face of a concerted campaign from Labour MPs to retain the DNA profiles of suspects, who are not subsequently convicted, on the DNA database. Junior Home Office minister James Brokenshire accused Labour MPs demanding continued retention of the records of being “very casual with people’s liberties”. He added: “They seem to assume that simply because someone is arrested for a crime, they are guilty. We take a different view.” He said it would remain possible for the police, in cases where an individual is arrested for a sexual offence such as rape, but not subsequently charged, to apply to a new biometrics commissioner for the retention of the DNA profile for three years. Brokenshire insisted: “The government’s approach is based on putting on the national DNA database more people who are guilty of crimes, rather than those […]